


Pray

by ThyArchitect



Category: Mass Effect, Mass Effect - Various Authors, Mass Effect Trilogy
Genre: Ashley Williams - Freeform, Cerberus - Freeform, Cerberus Trooper, Dialogue Heavy, Illusive Man - Freeform, Mass Effect - Freeform, Mass Effect 3, Mass Effect Trilogy - Freeform, Other, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-28
Updated: 2018-12-28
Packaged: 2019-09-28 23:44:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17192444
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThyArchitect/pseuds/ThyArchitect
Summary: So today we'll be having a look at a short dialogue featuring Ashley Williams. The dialogue was actually written in the spur of the moment when someone posted the following picture (http://img00.deviantart.net/948f/i/2012/228/2/b/ashley_williams_by_sorroow-d5bc4c4.png) in Ashley's thread (Legacy Forums) and asked for some dialogue to go along with it. What did I go for in this scene? Well, I went for something more. [lol @ dark knight reference? more crickets...:-(...] I tried to envision Ashley's character here as a more dark, sinister, pre-meditated kind of person, who is still fighting the good fight, but through some uncanny, smart talk and vicious interaction. I actually enjoyed how Ashley is portrayed and I don't think the "bad-ass behaviour" is overly done. It's just right. I didn't go all chuck norris on her. This also didn't have a title at the time so I decided to name it Pray. Play on words there. I hope you enjoy this short. Please do view the picture in the link before reading!





	Pray

Ashley: (calm, cool and collected) You steal a shuttle that you can't fly? And is that an attempt at running? With that busted leg and head of yours?

Cerberus Trooper: (gasping and looking back at Ashley as he approaches a distance of 10ft. from her.)

Ashley: (slowly begins to walk in the direction of the trooper, stepping at the side of small splashes of blood on the ground) Look at this. You're leaving me a trail of breadcrumbs, Hansel. Ran out of medigel over there?

Trooper: (attempting to run but slows down)

Ashley: (she notices that the trooper never checked his omni-tool for medigel) Not even equipped with it? Surely the illusive bastard has some sort of...oh what is the word I'm looking for here...heart...to have medigel as standard gear on his "elite" troopers. Unless your purpose is for something else.

Trooper: (bellows and falls to his knees. he looks around to Ashley.)

Ashley: (sly smile, about 15ft away)

Trooper: (begins to crawl a distance of about 4ft until he hears a very near tap. He stops, slowly turns his head and sees Ashley right behind him, a distance of 1/2ft away.)

Ashley: (sighs) Purpose. You know, I've experienced what Cerberus does first hand to the world. How they gnaw at humanity's soft preserved nature, leaving black, disgusting spots wherever they go. How he does it is beyond me. (she kicks the trooper so that he falls flat on his stomach and then stomps her foot on the back of his leg where he was injured)

Trooper: (screams)

Ashley: (rests her right hand on her pistol, which was still in the holster) How he controls you.; how you let him. how even after you stomach all the sickening "missions" he has you carry out...even after doing it, how you cannot understand that you're just his tool. Your "trusted" "loyalist" illusive man, is nothing more than an insane, power-hungry, fool who's given the means to "create" tools like yourself, just for his purpose, not for humanity's interest. Dogs like you don't matter to the illusive man. Once you fulfill his purpose, he's finished with you. 

Trooper:...

Ashley: You've probably been told that you were selected by the illusive man because of some remarkable quality that you yourself did not even know you possessed. You held a certain quality that none else had. And a fortune was spent on you. Just to really blow up your head. Make you feel proud. Make you feel nice. Just to make you feel as though every word was true. But the truth is...(she kicks him in the side to roll him onto his back) You were just a minor detail in what his new flavour of the month was. Kidnapping, Assassination, Child Abuse. You were just a spoon to feed his ego. (she leans over and downward to get closer to the trooper's face and to look directly into his eyes.)

Trooper: (looks at Ashley, with a scared, laboured look on his face)

Ashley: (removes pistol from holster) How long before the missions become fewer and fewer? How long before someone else comes along who gets the job done faster and better than you? How long before you're replaced? Do you think he'll just turn you loose? Just let you go like a stray dog?

Trooper: (scared, low voice) The...He...he still needs me.

Ashley: He still needs you? Yet here we are in such circumstances anyway. (moves away from him and returns to a standing position, still looking at the trooper on the ground.) A stray dog on the loose, scrambling away at the first sign of trouble. But it's nice to know that you're valuable...or you're carrying something valuable...You know a dog would never know that you're going to put him down. It would never see it coming, especially if it loves you alot. 

Trooper: (groans) Well...just...k-kill me now..the-n

Ashley: Oh no. Of course not. If you would stand where I am standing, you would see it how I do. This false belief in fake virtues that the illusive man spouts to you from the get-go. Ridiculous! The illusive man follows no virtues because to him, he is his own God. He needs no one. And the only purpose he'd ever fulfill is the one he creates in order to proliferate himself. 

Trooper: That's not true! (cough)

Ashley: (angry look on her face now) However the illusive man trained dumb animals like you is beyond me. I can't even convince you of the plain simple truth which is just staring you in the face! (angry look on her face turns back to calm and cool) But if you're a tool, then you can still be of use to me...

Trooper: Whaaa...

Ashley: What exactly were you fetching for the illusive man? What was your purpose coming here?

Trooper: Just kill me...I’ll never talk...

Ashley: (returns her pistol to the holster) I'm sorry but, you won't be dying today. I know, every dog has his day. But it is just unfortunate for you that today, is not your day.


End file.
